Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic crime fiction and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
In the words of Chinese traveler Chou Ta Kuan who lived in Angkor for a year in the 13th century: “When the king goes out, troops lead the escort; then come flags, banners and music. Palace women, numbering from three to five hundred, wearing clothes decorated with flowers, with flowers in their hair, hold candles [...]
Yesterday, Achan Neng Onnut, a Sak Yant tattoo master who supported the research of my new book Sacred Skin, the first English language publication on Thailand’s sacred tattoos, celebrated Wai Khru Day. During the course of the day, hundreds of his devotees visited his home in Bangkok to pay their respects to the master and [...]
A Bangkok Post review of my new book Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos, co-authored with photographer Aroon Thaewchatturat, has just been reposted on the Awesome Tattoos blog. The review includes an interview with Aroon. Photo taken at Bangkok International Airport.
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Floating somewhere between the Hooghly River and Massive Attack, Tritha is a music ensemble from Kolkata. The band played a couple of shows at The Space in Bangkok last month and performed an exalted mix of Indian ragas and folk-ways shuffled around sensuously, with a dash of trip hop thrown in. Shades of Bjork and [...]
Achan Neng Onnut, one of several tattoo masters featured in my recent book Sacred Skin, the first English language publication on Thailand’s spirit tattoos, Sak Yant, has posted a number of images of the shoot for two documentaries on the book. Check out the images here. Director Marc Eberle shot an 8 minute docu on [...]
Lard Yao Peter travels and tattoos. With long steel needles. Peter learned his trade in Lard Yao Prison, also known as Klong Prem or the Bangkok Hilton, Thailand’s notoriously infamous jail, where he spent some time in the 1990s. Spiegel TV has produced an interesting documentary on this extraordinary German. Obviously, the film is in [...]
Check out the excellent photo essay Risky Bangkok by seminal Thai photographer Vinai Dithajohn. Vinai Dithajohn is a Bangkok-based photojournalist covering news and documentary stories in Thailand and Southeast Asia for the past ten years. He has been shooting Thailand’s political turmoil as well as Bangkok’s dark underbelly and subcultures, often risking his life to [...]
Regional news round-up publication AsiaViews republishes a great review by Ezra Kyrill Erker, of my new book Sacred Skin, which originally ran in the Bangkok Post in July 2011.
“Sacred Skin Thailands Spirit Tattoos, the new two-hundred page, eight-by-ten-inch guide to sak yant protection tattoos by Tom Vater, with color photography by Aroon Thaewchatturat, is a beautifully organized, visual treat for both tattoo artists and collectors. Divided into easily navigable sections (Sak Yant, Master and Devotees, Sacred Images, Wai Khru the annual day of [...]